Instead of waiting would you?

I know there are hundreds of thousand of us waiting for Model 3 production to begin. During this period I'd love to have an S to bridge the gap but I don't want to get locked up with a loan, long lease or eat away at my Model 3 nest egg money plus the technological obsolescence risk.

Tesla seems to be sitting on a large number of inventory vehicles and CPO's. If Tesla were to create a "flex lease" program just for Model 3 reservation holders that allowed you to lease one of the inventory vehicles at the current lease prices until your 3 was ready, would you? Along the same lines, would you lease one of the CPO cars under the same "flex" lease concept. Since Tesla does not have lease rates for CPO's lets just say something like $2k money up front and
;$350/month for a car in the $45K range
;$450/month for a car in the $55K range
;$550/month for a car in the $65K range
I imagine Tesla needs to move these inventory vehicles fast, generate additional cash flow and there is a lot of pent up demand amongst the Model 3 reservation holders that would just love a flexible option like this.

I know there are hundreds of thousand of us waiting for Model 3 production to begin. During this period I'd love to have an S to bridge the gap but I don't want to get locked up with a loan, long lease or eat away at my Model 3 nest egg money plus the technological obsolescence risk.

Tesla seems to be sitting on a large number of inventory vehicles and CPO's. If Tesla were to create a "flex lease" program just for Model 3 reservation holders that allowed you to lease one of the inventory vehicles at the current lease prices until your 3 was ready, would you? Along the same lines, would you lease one of the CPO cars under the same "flex" lease concept. Since Tesla does not have lease rates for CPO's lets just say something like $2k money up front and
;$350/month for a car in the $45K range
;$450/month for a car in the $55K range
;$550/month for a car in the $65K range
I imagine Tesla needs to move these inventory vehicles fast, generate additional cash flow and there is a lot of pent up demand amongst the Model 3 reservation holders that would just love a flexible option like this.

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My plan is to keep driving my paid-for tank of a Prius and put the money that would have been going to car payments to increase my Model 3 down payment, maybe even being able to score a couple more options!

Tesla already did what you are suggesting by adding 2 year leases. Anyone who isn't an employee and doesn't own a Tesla likely isn't getting their Model 3 until 2018. You can lease an inventory Model S or Model X. Get a 2 year lease on the inventory vehicle that fits your budget, and hopefully you will be able to take delivery of Model 3 near the end of that lease.

I suspect many people who reserved a car for delivery ~2 years from now aren't ready to take on a new car payment today; this is one of the reasons why Tesla got as many reservations as they did.

Had I not paid them off early my two Prius loans would have ended next October, which would have been perfect. As it is I am paying them both off next month, which will save me a few bucks in interest. Now I can start putting aside some of that (former car payment) cash for my 3. I'm already replacing one of those cars earlier than I like (assuming early 2018 delivery of my 3), but close enough to where I don't feel too guilty splurging on the 3.

2 year lease is around $900/month with the down payment, which means you would spend over $20k to lease an S for 2 years. Not worth it to me as I will probably spend about double that to outright buy a 3, but I guess it could be interesting to some.

2 year lease is around $900/month with the down payment, which means you would spend over $20k to lease an S for 2 years. Not worth it to me as I will probably spend about double that to outright buy a 3, but I guess it could be interesting to some.

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That has been my thought for a long time. I wonder constantly wonder how people in this forum just casually go to a tesla store and "get a tesla" because there is now a lease program. Especially those who are M3 reservationists. I used to think that this was a rich persons forum.

"Rich" is a relative term isn't it? The folk frequenting Bentley or McLaren Forum will probably think none of us here are rich - of course I am just speaking for myself

Anyway, I still think Model S is a rich person's car whichever way you take it. The initial purchase price might be within reach for many but maintaining it long-term and taking the depreciation hit with a smile is not for the faint hearted.

Some might even say that potentially a 50k+ optioned-up Model 3 is also a "rich" person's car - it's all relative IMO.

"Rich" is a relative term isn't it? The folk frequenting Bentley or McLaren Forum will probably think none of us here are rich - of course I am just speaking for myself

Anyway, I still think Model S is a rich person's car whichever way you take it. The initial purchase price might be within reach for many but maintaining it long-term and taking the depreciation hit with a smile is not for the faint hearted.

Some might even say that potentially a 50k+ optioned-up Model 3 is also a "rich" person's car - it's all relative IMO.

My plan is to keep driving my paid-for tank of a Prius and put the money that would have been going to car payments to increase my Model 3 down payment, maybe even being able to score a couple more options!

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I'm in the same boat. My cars are paid for and I'm going to put as much as I can every month for my Model 3. I want a loaded one so it won't be 35k

I suspect many people who reserved a car for delivery ~2 years from now aren't ready to take on a new car payment today; this is one of the reasons why Tesla got as many reservations as they did.

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Exactly my situation. We still owe about 15K on our 2012 Fusion ICE. Hoping our awesome debt payoff plan my wife has us on will pay it off by summer of next year. Then the Fusion will just be a trade-in for a bigger down payment on our 3 along with whatever we have saved up.

Would love to keep the monthly payment on the Model 3 under 300/month.

Exactly my situation. We still owe about 15K on our 2012 Fusion ICE. Hoping our awesome debt payoff plan my wife has us on will pay it off by summer of next year. Then the Fusion will just be a trade-in for a bigger down payment on our 3 along with whatever we have saved up.

Would love to keep the monthly payment on the Model 3 under 300/month.

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Absolutely. That would be just fantastic. I'm going to attempt the same thing.

I made my Model 3 reservation knowing full well that it'll be at least a two-year wait. I don't NEED to have a new car, Tesla or otherwise, before then. And, in the off-chance Tesla really is able to accelerate their production schedule, it won't even be that long.

I made my Model 3 reservation knowing full well that it'll be at least a two-year wait. I don't NEED to have a new car, Tesla or otherwise, before then. And, in the off-chance Tesla really is able to accelerate their production schedule, it won't even be that long.

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Why did you think that it would be a 2 year wait? Are you quoting someone at Tesla or something?

My plan is to keep driving my paid-for tank of a Prius and put the money that would have been going to car payments to increase my Model 3 down payment, maybe even being able to score a couple more options!

Exactly my situation. We still owe about 15K on our 2012 Fusion ICE. Hoping our awesome debt payoff plan my wife has us on will pay it off by summer of next year. Then the Fusion will just be a trade-in for a bigger down payment on our 3 along with whatever we have saved up.

Would love to keep the monthly payment on the Model 3 under 300/month.

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Thumbs up to the debt payoff plan. To me one can consider themselves "rich" if they don't have any debts (or at least non real estate). And not in the negative connotation of the word. My wife and I put together a debt payoff plan in 2011 to pay off all of our non-mortgage debt and to get our mortgage below 80% loan to value ratio. It was successful, and a little over a year later we put a reservation down on Model X and begun saving for it. Since we had completed the debt pay off we were able to set aside our "car payment" for the X for 2.5 years while we waited for Tesla to deliver it. The end result was only needing to take out a loan for 25% of the cost which was awesome

Stick to your budget and pay off debts aggressively and you'll have many more options to do the things you want to.

Thumbs up to the debt payoff plan. To me one can consider themselves "rich" if they don't have any debts (or at least non real estate). And not in the negative connotation of the word. My wife and I put together a debt payoff plan in 2011 to pay off all of our non-mortgage debt and to get our mortgage below 80% loan to value ratio. It was successful, and a little over a year later we put a reservation down on Model X and begun saving for it. Since we had completed the debt pay off we were able to set aside our "car payment" for the X for 2.5 years while we waited for Tesla to deliver it. The end result was only needing to take out a loan for 25% of the cost which was awesome

Stick to your budget and pay off debts aggressively and you'll have many more options to do the things you want to.

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Good stuff! I like hearing the word "save." It does pay to save, as evidenced by your X.